The State of Insecurity

Security, security. Can’t get enough of it. Paradoxically, the more we have of it the less secure we feel. The latest weapons and massive military spending are never enough. Since 9/11 the term is bandied about. There is the huge bureaucracy, the Department of Homeland Security. Within it is the TSA, with its 60,000-plus employees and a budget over $7 billion. We go through checks and searches. Then there’s the NSA surveillance. Could U.S. global policies from drone strikes to invasions actually be undermining our security? This is not a question that most media will consider much less cover. And politicians? Best not to ask. Security is not the issue. It’s really about control. We need a radical new definition of what constitutes security. It would include well-paying jobs, health care, education, affordable housing and a clean and thriving environment.

Speaker

Noam Chomsky, by any measure, has led a most extraordinary life. In one index he is ranked as the eighth most cited person in history, right up there with Aristotle, Shakespeare, Marx, Plato and Freud. The legendary MIT professor is a major contributor to 21st century linguistics. In addition to his pioneering work in that field he has been a leading voice for peace and social justice for many decades. Chris Hedges says he is “America’s greatest intellectual” who “makes the powerful, as well as their liberal apologists, deeply uncomfortable.” He is Institute Professor (emeritus) in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at MIT and Laureate Professor of Linguistics and Haury Chair in the Program in Environment and Social Justice at the University of Arizona. At 90, he still gives lectures all over the world. He is the author of scores of books, including Propaganda & the Public Mind, How the World Works, Power Systems and Global Discontentswith David Barsamian.